Big Mango Bar
drink and blog

Day 12 by ~h

Posted by John Obama | Reader Submissions | Posted on June 19th, 2006

Day one in Chiang Mai. We hire a taxi and head out to The Temple of The White Elephant. It is stunning in it’s majesty, architecture and spiritual aura surrounding it. Being that #111 is a Buddhist she guides me in the appropriate behavior. We get blessed by an old monk, pray to Buddha and take some pictures. We head back down the mountain to our taxi driver who awaits us. We grab a classic Thai lunch. Did I mention I love how #111 eats? Very slowly and sensual as if in a trance, only talks after she has finished.

The next morning my little Thai girlfriend and I are picked up by out
tour guides and we head for the mountains. Two hours later we are at an
elephant base camp. We are excited along with a group of Europeans and
a girl from Tokyo, pretty much your standard back packing group. I am
the oldest in the group but mostly they are friendly and accept #111
and I into the pack. We have a blast on the elephants, taking pictures
as we trek through the mountainside. #111 is smiling and really
enjoying herself and I’m having a great time too.
We have lunch, dropped off at a base camp where we launch a three-hour
hike into the wilderness. Waterfalls, heat, beauty, snakes, swimming.
Three hours later we reach a village full of hill people. I choose a
bungalow for two and quickly throw my pack in.
There is a peaceful look in #111’s eyes. She seems really at ease and
comfortable. All that trekking could make a working girl really uneasy
but not her. She seems appreciative
and engages the other trekkers in conversations.
It is at this moment I realize the best decision I made this entire
trip was to leave Ko Samui early and come back to Pattaya to find this
girl.
After lunch she wants to go to an Orchid Farm so we head out of town.
Forty minutes later #111 is in heaven being surrounded by hundreds of
varities of orchids. She wants to clip them and take them with her.
Back to the hotel for a little rest, then onto dinner and heavy duty
shopping.

We eat with the group, get drunk on Thai Whiskey, and laugh around the
campfire with the group and head back to our hut. We are both exhausted
and crash on our bamboo floor/bed. The next morning we are up with the
roosters and I walk around the hills taking in the experience. It is
beautiful and peaceful as I play with the pot bellied pig litter just
rising from a full night of sleep.

We are served breakfast at our outdoor eating area and head out for our
four hour trek. I really get into the pacing of the walk. Up mountains,
down mountains, through the woods, stop at a waterfall and start again.
It must be 100 degrees the whole time. I feel really good and very far
away from the Bay Area. I’m shedding pounds and it feels good. #111 is
very mellow as if in a trance as she takes in the sights. She is a
trooper and has not complained once. I decided early on I would carry
her bag on top of my pack because she did not bring a proper backpack.
I don’t think she owns one. I know she appreciates it. We make it down
the mountain and we are shuttled to a river for a bamboo raft ride.

It is fun but we are starting to get pretty tired. The raft ride goes on
for an hour as we maneuver past elephant farms and vacationing Thai
people on the side of the river.
As the raft ride ends I’m ready to get back to the Ramming Lodge and
take a shower and spend my last few hours with #111. We check back in,
shower, drag our asses out to dinner, get drunk and tell each other
more secrets about our lives, head back to the lodge and she passes
out.